Building a Mexican style hacienda in EP (El Paso, Mission: hardwood floors, how much)

[skippy upwood]

I'm thinking about moving to El Paso. However, I was wondering about how much it would cost ($/sq ft) to self-build a Mexican style hacienda (excluding land or utility costs). Is this style popular in El Paso? How reliable are the local building contractors in this area?

[HookTheBrotherUp]

El Paso is a modern city, and there are no haciendas. Some people may have many acres of land with a huge house on it that some may call a modern day hacienda, but not many. Hacienda's are a thing of the past, a romantic period in time where the Spanish granted huge land masses to wealthy people.

There is a neighborhood called Hacienda Heights, just buy a few houses on a block, should be cheap, and build yourself a huge house with gates to the property, windows, and doors.... pretty much any opening into the house will need bars.

Just kidding of course, but it does beg a question from me, what is Hacienda Heights like now? It was not too nice when I was there, just wondering if it got worse, if that was possible.

[Smooth from ELP]

You would have to go out in the boonies to build such a house. Perhaps Sororro, San Eli, or Tornillo. I am curious to see if there are any haciendas that are already built. Keep us posted.

[malamute]

Originally Posted by skippy upwood

I'm thinking about moving to El Paso. However, I was wondering about how much it would cost ($/sq ft) to self-build a Mexican style hacienda (excluding land or utility costs). Is this style popular in El Paso? How reliable are the local building contractors in this area?

What do you mean by hacienda style? I always thought hacienda meant the Mexican equivalent of a southern plantation, not so much a style of house.

You can build Southwestern style houses here -- very popular or Mexican style houses also very popular here. You can also build about any style you want.

[br7or13]

Part of your question concerns the reliability of contractors in E.P.: all I can say is beware and hire a contracts/construction lawyer to help you enforce the terms of any construction contract you get into. Many contractors employ day laborers from the other side of the river who have a WGAS attitude about you and your future home (i.e., no pride in craftsmanship). Depending on how exact / detailed your specs are, you're inevitably going to run into problems about the quality of the job they're doing. Someone I know built a home up in the Redd Rd. foothills and he ended paying $400K more due to cost overruns, crappy work done, and the contractor's WGAS attitude.

[Gary Siete]

You'd be safer finding a reputable local builder & have him build to your specs rather than "do it yourself".
To me 'hacienda' means lots of upgrades (brickwork/stonework, tiling, kitchen surfaces...) so it's hard to put a $/sq ft figure to it. Just about any design/layout can be skinned to give a hacienda feel.

El Paso home builders are listed here:
EPAB

[skippy upwood]

You would have to go out in the boonies to build such a house. Perhaps Sororro, San Eli, or Tornillo

I'm not thinking about building it in central El Paso where land costs would be prohibitive - but about 20 odd miles away (though obviously North of the border).

What do you mean by hacienda style? I always thought hacienda meant the Mexican equivalent of a southern plantation, not so much a style of house.

Just to clarify, I mean "hacienda" as in a Mexican / Mission interpretation of a plantation house rather than a ten bedroom house with a thousand acre estate! My idea would be more a two-level square house roughly 3,200sq ft in total area with verandas on both levels.

I’m still at the drawing board (and I am still investigating land in California, Arizona and New Mexico) so I was just curious to see if any major builders did houses in the proper mission style (rather than a slight modification of the generic detached house) and what I should expect to pay.

[KB-Architect]

Originally Posted by skippy upwood

I'm not thinking about building it in central El Paso where land costs would be prohibitive - but about 20 odd miles away (though obviously North of the border).



Just to clarify, I mean "hacienda" as in a Mexican / Mission interpretation of a plantation house rather than a ten bedroom house with a thousand acre estate! My idea would be more a two-level square house roughly 3,200sq ft in total area with verandas on both levels.

I’m still at the drawing board (and I am still investigating land in California, Arizona and New Mexico) so I was just curious to see if any major builders did houses in the proper mission style (rather than a slight modification of the generic detached house) and what I should expect to pay.

I've lived here in El Paso only about 2 months but I can assure you that there is plenty of cheap land outside the city. The costs of labor, land, and materials don't seem very high out here really so you could probably get a good price on your proposed home.

I'm sure you could find someone to provide you with the type of construction your looking for. I've seen some custom homes here in EP done is pseudo traditional adobe style. I would suggest speaking with some local architects for advice. Design Alliance is one that specializes in homes and may know of just the contractor your looking for.

One good place to find open land is equine.com. This site is geared toward horse owners mostly but their "horse property" section is a great resource for finding land all over the country. With the high property taxes around here you might want to look into Southern New Mexico as well. There is beauty all around El Paso, and the temperatures are a lower than what you might find in parts of Arizona's dessert.

[skippy upwood]

The costs of labor, land, and materials don't seem very high out here really so you could probably get a good price on your proposed home.

I'm sure you could find someone to provide you with the type of construction your looking for. I've seen some custom homes here in EP done is pseudo traditional adobe style. I would suggest speaking with some local architects for advice. Design Alliance is one that specializes in homes and may know of just the contractor your looking for.

Thanks for the information. However, I was more interested in the ballpark construction cost per sq foot exclusive of land/utilities etc. For instance, would $50 per sq ft be unrealistically low? What about $75 or $100?

[ocngypz]

Originally Posted by skippy upwood

Thanks for the information. However, I was more interested in the ballpark construction cost per sq foot exclusive of land/utilities etc. For instance, would $50 per sq ft be unrealistically low? What about $75 or $100?

Building costs 25 years ago were $50 sf for moderate "tract" type of house.

Sqft cost can vary greatly. Think of it this way. You're planning on building a 2000 sf home. You decide instead of a standard tub in the master bath, you want a whirlpool tub. The cost of the upgrade alone is $4000. That would add an additional $2.00 per sq ft to your building cost. Are you looking for granite counters in the kitchen, or formica? Solid cherry cabinets or veneer? Quarried limestone floors or saltillo floors? Contractor grade carpeting.. or Mohawk "Smartstrand"... hardwood floors or wood laminate?
Mission brick or dryvit? The list is endless.